Sunday, 31 January 2010

I've been meaning to do a post on the sand racing since last November, when I went to the first race of the season. I went again today, to drop my Wood frame off with Les of CJ Powder Coating, Grimsby. That's his Honda with the shiny tank.
There are plenty of riders making a truth of the motto 'It's not what you ride, it's how you ride it'.
It was properly freezing. Snow on the ground, the high street had ice an inch thick on it. And look how long the shadows are.
I saw my mates Carl (who is sorting the FT500) and Russ. While I was talking to them someone offered to lend me a bike for the last race of the year, one month today. Be rude not to. I've never raced in thermals before. GI

Bummed to have missed Kempton Park Autojumble (motorcycle swap-meet to our American cousins) yesterday. It's a biggie attracting international vendors and public. Buy an over priced rotting basket case or pick up a bargain if you you know what looking for / at. Next Sunday (7th Feb) is the Newbury Classic Car & Bike Show & Jumble . Can anyone vouch for it? BP

Saturday, 30 January 2010

Flat track isn't in the normal European's blood, so to get interest we need to mix things up sometimes. Here's former UK and European champ Marco Belli on the Ouroboros Zaeta. He's in the display area at the recent Verona Show. Graziano Rossi is in the Mustang. Eagle-eyes will spot Marco's got one of those Ruby Honet lids I like so much, too. And he's shown with Ouroboros main man, Paolo Chiaia. GI

Marco says 'what a day we had, so much interest, so many people asking info, tips, bike's features, etc...We are going to have an official dirt track activity this year, and will be: track days, practice and races, maybe just 3, but enough to start :)I wait for you all guysciaohave a nice dayMarcoPhotos: Alberto Narduzzi

Friday, 29 January 2010

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating - without Dave Skooter Farm there'd be no Sideburn magazine (or blog). Bumping into him at a race made me think I could race too. I was up working in Manchester last week and took the opportunity to call in at Skooter Farm HQ for a nose around Dave and Louise's incredible pad, dad. Here are some of the highlights.

Below: Dave with the CM200 race bike he built before there was even a race series in Britain. This is going to be his training bike when the north west contingent get their practice track up and running. Talking of North West, there are rumours of a race in Manchester in the Spring. If it's true, who's coming to watch? G

Ok, it's been a long month, but pay day's here and it's time to treat yourself to some some Sideburn merch. All the details are below (click image to read it) and here. Sammy Halbert (de facto combined GNC twins and singles champ) wears his Sideburn Indian girl long-sleeve with pride during the national anthem at Vegas (that's his racer girlfriend Katie Hawkins beside him - she'd kick your ass on the track too). We have very few of these long-sleeves in grey and red left. Got a fair few Dick hoods and Dave T-shirts, but once they're gone, well you know. Every merchandise order gets a free sticker. GI

Thursday, 28 January 2010

Ben, Thank you for posting about my tanks, that was a very nice compliment. The track master tanks are $800 in steel and $949 in aluminum. They are made to fit the oil in frame. They come with a vented gas cap and 2 npt petcock bungs. They are pressure tested to 3x the working pressure. I also weld in a compression sleeve at the mounting hole so no matter how tight you tighten the nut it will not compromise the integrity of the tank. They take about 2-3 weeks to complete. I hope this answers most of your questions. ShawnS&M CyclesS-Mmetalforming@hotmail.com805*217*6875

'Hopefully you have heard by now of the AMA's new vintage dirt track series, starting off at Daytona Speedway Feb 28th followed by Volusia the 2nd of March.Dave Aldana will be there riding my Astro. Also scheduled to come is Gary Nixon's SonicWeld Triumph 500 and Rodger Reiman's Harley CR250 Sprint. Both bikes will be raced, not just sitting in the pits. I'm sure there will be a lot more going on at these two races.Hope to see you at the races, Don Miller Metro Racing/ AMA Vintage Dirt Track Technical Advisor

To see the full dates (which include races in Ohio, NY, South Carolina, Illinois and Texas) go to the AMA

While we're kind of talking about Daytona, there are going to be a few Euro short trackers over to watch some of the races. Steve Red Max, Rach the Sideburn girl and the Dutch Brothers crew are all going out. So say hello to them. Check out Steve Red Max's Daytona lonely hearts plea here. GI

Popped over to Nürburg to cover BMW at the WSB round for a magazine last year. It was all a PR schmooze-snooze. No one will say 'Boo' to a goose. Alberto Novelli (who shot the Rossi in the snow feature in Sideburn 4) and I stayed in hotel like the one in The Shining. It was completely empty, except for us. So, new BMW nearly on the pace; finger rocker valves; Troy Corser; big budget, blah, blah, blah. All I wanted to know about was the Unimog. Just look at it. G

Just something about these CCM through-frame 'poke it out the window' stubby silencers, that's ticking my box. When I first saw Rusty 'Preisendorfer' Hodgsons Suzuki engined F-35, I thought Hmm that's novel, but after a bit of homework I found out they've employed this trick since their early days BSA-engined scramblers in the 70s. BP

UPDATE: Dynomax UK have told us 'The can is a Remus Powercone. Dynomax developed it for CCM on their FT’s. CCM then placed an order with Remus, but all those cans are sold. Unless they place another order for 20 min. (I think) we can’t get them. So we’re abit stuffed really.'

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Back in December we ran a little competion Not sure I'm wholly honored, but the winner is Andrew Gray. Even my wife said "The likeness is quite uncanny!" He will be receiving a stack of assorted stickers, badges, and a kipper in the post - should have quite a guff on by the time it reaches him. BP

This one goes out to all house-husbands. Migratory Mexican field worker's home on the edge of a frozen pea field, Imperial valley California 1937 [I thought frozen peas was a modern invention?]. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. BP

Just been on the phone to our friend The Magazine Man and he gave me the good news that he has issue 2 of the hard to find Men's File magazine in stock. This issue has everything we love from handmade English boots, Royal Enfields, Nick Clements' photography, old cycling jerseys, topless honeys, noir style, Savile Row tailoring and English cricket pavilions. I ordered one. GI

Monday, 25 January 2010

Dai doesn't do things by halves, and after an excellent lunch at the revamped Viet Hoa on Kingsland Road, I was happy to piggy-back the sturdy Welshman to the Shoreditch High Street shop PRESENT. Started by two former founders of Duffer of St George, it stocks a colourful array of menswear, including Eley Kishimoto - and now Sideburn magazine. The second Red Max'd SR500 is parked in the window. Neil casually offered me a coffee while I was browsing and I congratulated him on the fancy foam motif; not realizing it had been made by the current Swedish national champion barista Mattias Björkland. Together with Gwilym Davies the current world champion barista, they have set up a titanic coffee machine on the shop counter. My already pleasant weekend received extra spring in it's heel. BP

UPDATE:Steve Red Max is a better photographer than me so I robbed this off his Flickr album

As Jan-Willem says 'Switzerland is not renowned for it's tolerance to motorsport [having banned every form of it after the Le Mans disaster of 1955] or off-road riding, or loud pipes... but every now and then an opportunities for real fun sneaks up... Yesterday there was one and we jumped on it!!